The caretaker government on Tuesday declared Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) a dead asset and said that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is losing Rs13 billion per month and Rs50 million per day, with the losses of power distribution companies surpassing Rs600 billion.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad flanked by Caretaker information minister Murtaza Solangi, Interim Privatization Minister Fawad Hassan Fawad said the media that PSM is a dead asset while PIA incurred a whopping loss of $7 billion since 2012 to the national exchequer.

Fawad said that the losses of government-owned enterprises have increased significantly in recent years. From 2018 to 2019, Rs2,542 billion were spent on government enterprises, and by 2020, the losses of enterprises were equivalent to 7% of GDP, whereas, 15 major institutions, including PIA and PSM, have a debt of Rs2,665 billion.

He said that 15 of PIA’s 34 planes are grounded, adding that the national carrier is losing Rs12.77 billion per month and Rs50 million per day. The national airlines inflicted a loss of more than $7 billion since 2012, and its total losses reached Rs713 billion by June 2023, he said.

Fawad Hasan Fawad also highlighted that the government allocated Rs2.542 trillion to support loss-making SOEs between 2018 and 2022. He underscored that these funds could have been allocated to advance national development projects such as the Bhasha Dam.

By the end of June 2023, the accumulated losses of PIA were recorded at Rs713 billion and out of which Rs263 billion comprised of debt, besides an additional amount of Rs13 billion was provided by the banks on government guarantee, he said adding the government also provided Rs150 billion from its own resources.

Fawad further added that grants worth Rs1,125 billion were given to government institutions in four years, adding that monthly cost of six leased planes is $2 million, while bonds worth Rs779 billion were issued for various government institutions.

The minister said other objective of the privatization of PIA was to regain the maximum value and avoid unbearable losses to national exchequer, which stood at Rs12.70 billion per month. He said the Privatization Commission had suggested appointing a single-transaction adviser, for which approval would be taken from the federal cabinet on the basis of the report prepared in 2017.